The Powerful Presentation Graphics Guarantee

Author:
Mike Parkinson

Date Created: February 2, 2011Last Updated: June 14, 2012

Mike Parkinson is an internationally recognized visual communication expert and multi-published author. Visit
Billion Dollar Graphics and
BizGraphics On Demand for helpful presentation
graphic tools and articles.
with any questions about visual communication. Mike is also a partner at
24 Hour Company, a premier proposal and presentation
graphics firm.

Presentations that use good visual communication are far more successful; however, most presentation software users make
text-heavy slides with canned clip art and irrelevant graphics. This two-part article uncovers the top solutions to guarantee
you have powerful presentation graphics that increase your success rate.

First and foremost, focus on your audience. Know what they want/need to know and communicate it in a way
that makes them understand, remember, and care. (Good graphics increase comprehension by 200%, increase recollection 38%, and
affect our audience emotionally—which leads to them caring about our subject.)

I use a simple, yet effective, trick to make sure graphics are audience focused. I imagine meeting an audience member at a
networking event and envision what I would tell them about my solution, idea, or product to get their attention in a limited
amount of time. What do they need to know? What do they want to know?

I need to give them a reason to care about what I have to say. To do this, I should understand what my audience is
expecting from me and my solution, idea, or product. I call this knowing your “primary objective.” Each slide should have a
primary objective—what you want your audience to learn from that slide. Your primary objective will fall into one of two
categories: explain/clarify or influence.

If your goal is to explain or clarify, your primary objective is simply a statement that
summarizes your slide.

The following are examples of primary objectives and the associated graphics meant to explain or clarify:

Primary Objective: Explain roles and responsibilities of four companies working together.

Primary Objective: Communicate the average traffic in Washington, D.C., between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Primary Objective: Explain the anatomy of the human eye.

If your goal is to influence or persuade your audience, your primary objective must
include a benefit and how you will achieve this benefit for them. The slide should answer the question, “So what?” The benefit
should appear first followed by how they will benefit.

The following are examples of primary objectives meant to influence or persuade:

Save $400 and get better picture quality with the Samsung TV (compared with Toshiba).

Learn a new language faster with Rosetta Stone using our patented technique.

Add $8,000 to your paycheck with three simple steps.

Once you have chosen your primary objective, you must deduce the questions your audience would ask about your solution,
idea, or product. Keep the imaginary dialogue conversational by putting yourself in your audience’s shoes:

You: “You save $400 and get better picture quality if you choose the Samsung TV over the Toshiba TV.”

Audience Member: “How much does it cost?”

You: “$2,199 compared to $2,599 for the Toshiba. You save $400 and the Samsung lasts 40,000
hours longer than Toshiba’s TV.”

Audience Member: “How much better is the picture quality? (According to reviewers?)”

You: “Consumer Reports rated picture quality on the Samsung TV 9 out of 10, whereas Toshiba’s TV was rated 7 out
of 10.”

You should create up to five essential questions your audience might ask. Make sure the questions relate to your primary
objective. If they do not, update your primary objective to accommodate the question or create a new slide with a new primary
objective that answers this new important question. (For example, an audience member might ask, “How does your guarantee
stack up against the competition?” To address this question, create a new primary objective and answer it on a subsequent
slide. Show the benefit of your guarantee and how your company stands behind this guarantee.)

Below is the resulting slide from our exercise. Notice the title communicates the benefit from the primary objective
(Save $400 and get better picture quality with the Samsung TV.). It gives the audience a reason to pay attention to the slide
content. Next, our audience’s questions are addressed within the slide’s graphic: cost, price compared to the competition,
and a higher rating by Consumer Reports over the competition.

Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado?
Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented?